Locking mechanism for emergency-exit doors.



E. A. PREED.

LOOKING MECHANISM FOR EMERGENCY EXIT DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, 1908.

Patented May 16, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented May 16, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. A. FREED. LOCKING MEGHA NIS M FOR EMERGENCY EXIT DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, 1908.

11/2309 B'Jaza llNITED STATES: OFFICE. I.

EDWARD A. rnnnn; orcincaeo, ILLINoIs, AssIeNon or ONE-THIRD TO rnnnnmcx LUNIJIN AND ONE-THIRD 'ro cnazanns J. ronsnnao, Born on CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LOOKING MECHANISM roa EMERGENCY-EXIT nooas.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application flle'd September 21,' 1 .9Q8. 'serial No. 453,971.

Patented May s, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. FREED,- a

citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the. county. of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a ,certaln new and useful Improvement in Looking Mechanism for Emergency-Exit Doors, of which the following is a specification. p

The object of this invention 1s.v to provide a door for use at emergency exits as at the doors of theaters or'other inclosuresl which is not ordinarily used by the public but is designed for the escape of people desiring to escape from .an alarnung cause as the inside of the theater by mere pres-.

sure of a person against any portion whatsoever of that surface of the doom More in detail the invention consists in a hollow door made in the form of a sh'al-' low box having one wall toward the interior.

of the theater mounted in such a way that it is freely movable toward and from the "center of the door box this in combination with mechanism inside the door box proper adapted to be engaged by persons on the 1nside side of the door forthe purpose of operating the latch of the door.

The invention furtherconsistsin the combination with the foregoing of a look by means of which the doormaybe locked so that it can not be opened from the nonmovable side of the door-box or the outside a front sectional detail view of the door taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, showing the interior operating mechanism of the door from a position just inside the movable Wall of the oor. Fig. 2 is, a vertical sec tional detail view on'the line 2-2 of Fi -1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the olt and lock mechanism of the door. -Fig. 4

is a vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the lock ontheline 5 -5 of Flg. 3. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of parts of the lock which will be hereafter described.

-R eferring a ain to the drawings the numeral 10 in icates the four edges of the door frame opening in the wall of the 'theater'within which the door fits and is hinged in the ordinary manner by hinges 9 as best seen in Fig. 2. The door proper consists of a box like structure comprising a flat plate 11 rigidly secured to top plates 12. and side plates 13. The hinges 9 are at tached in one way or another to thismember so that the door swings outward about one edge thereof or to the left in Fig. 2 that is to say the plate 11 forms the exterior wall I of the door viz. that upon the outside of the theater or uponthe side to which the door is' to open 1n the event of emergency requiring its use. This door box 11, 12, 13

is of a suflicient depth to contain all of the door operating mechanism which will be 'hereafter described and its open side op o site to the plate 13 is closed by a mova 1e plate 15 having inturned flanges 16 and 17 ust fitting inside the walls 12 and 13 here- 'tofore described with just sufiicient clearance between said flanges and said walls so that this movable plate member 15 may freely move in and out of the box of the door proper. member into theinterior of the door proper is resisted by compression springs 18 located I adjacent to the four corners of the door and at such other convenient points between the twowalls of the door as it may be found desirable to place them.

Rigidly secured to the plate 11 of the door by bolts, screws or other suitable mechanism 20 are four supports 21. Pivotallymounted .upon each of these bearing supports 21 is a The entrance of this plate hell crank the four different bell cranks be- 1 111g designated by the numerals23, 24, 25

and 26. These four bell cranks are all alike and each one has two arms 27 and 28. The

outerend arm 27 of each one of these bell cranks is pivoted at 30 to a suitable lug 31 securedjby any suitable means upon the inside of the movable plate member 15 of the door. Any slight play which may take place between the pivotal member 30 of each of these lugs 31 and the bell crank arm 27 proper may be allowed for by slots 32 if desired. Each bell crank arm 28 has at its ex tremity a similar slot 34. The slots 34 on the bell cranks 23 and 24 are entered by the horizontal rod 36 extending between said bell cranks and the same slots on the bell cranks 25 and 26 are entered by another rod 37. As shown the two rods 36 and 37 are parallel to each Other. These two rods 36 and 37 are rigidly connected at 38 and 3!) by any suitable mechanism to a vertically movable rod or bar 40 held in movable position upon the interior face of member 11 by means of strips 42 and bolts 43 or any other suitable means. Pivotally mounted upon a suitable bearing member 45 located atone side of this rod 40 is a bell crank 46 having two arms 47 and 48, the former carrying a slot 49 through which is placed a bolt or pin 50 rigidly attached to the rod 40. The opposite end of the bell crank 48 carries a knob or other suitable finishing 51 adapted to engage the depending arm 53 rigidly attached to the bolt 54 which locks the door by engaging one of the edges 10 of the door frame at 55. This latch 54 is slidably mounted in suitable bearings 56 and 57 and is normally spring pressed into locked position by the spring 58. Rigidly mounted upon a pin60 located upon the plate 59 is a triangular lever member 61 best seen in Figs. 3 and 7 having angular corners 62 and 63 adapted to engage portions of the face 64 of the member 53.

Rigidly connected to this plate 61 by any suitable means 'is a shaft 65 journaled in Wall 15 of the door while permitting movement of the door wall lengthwise thereof. This shaft carries at its outer end a handle 66 which is located 'on the outside of wall 15 or on the inside of the theater and any one on that side of the door desiring to open the door by turning this handle 66 can always do so, the plate 59 rotating about shaft in unison with the member 61 and the corners 62 and 63 of the plate 61 bearing against the member 53 and moving that member with the attached bolt 54 to the left in Fig. 3 thereby unlatcbing the extreme end 67 of the bolt from the edge of the door frame 10, and this action will take place no matter in which direction the user attempts to rotate the knob 66.

Journaled in the opposite or stationary wall 11 of the door proper and in the central axis of the shaft 65 is another shaft 70 carrying on the outside of the door a knob and inclosing it is a loop shaped head 77, of lever member 78 pivoted at 79 to the in 60 heretofore described. This loop mem er 77 has an opening 80 through it within which the disk member 75 is located. On one side of the member 77 and within the opening 80 is a depending tooth or lug 82 of such a size and shape that it will fit in any one of the notches 76 heretofore described and the size of the opening 80 is such that when the loop 77 is raised to its highest or dotted line position of Fig. 3 the disk 75 is free to rotate without engaging the tooth 82 and that when the member 77 is moved downward to full line position of Fig. 3 the tooth 82 does engage any notch which happens to be in front of it and therefore nonoperatively connects the shaft 70 to this lever 78. The result of this construction is that when the dog 82 engages the disk 75 the person turning the handle 71 can manipulate the lock latch point 67 exactly in the same manner as a person on the inside of the door does by the use of the handle 66 but when the member 78 is raised so that the tooth 82 does not engage the notches 76 the handle 71 can be rotated around and around in either direction without in any way affecting the operating lever 61. On the under side of this member 77 is a lug 85 which bears against the bolt 86 of an ordinary lock 87 having a key hole 88. This lock mechanism is so arranged with reference to this lug 85 that when the bolt 86 has been turned by means of a key inserted in the hole 88 to outward or as shown upward thrown position it lifts the member 77 to the highest position as above described in which the knob 71 may be rotated freely in either direction or in other words the door is locked so that a person on the outside of a door can not by the use of the knob 71 open it. When by use of the key the bolt 86 is thrown to unlocked position or lowered thereby allowing the lever 78 to drop to full line position the tooth 82 does engage the disk 75 and the door is unlocked that is to say the person on the outside of the door may by the use of the handle 71 openthe door.

In the operation of the door it is set up and mounted as shown and under ordinary circumstances it is used by the operator turning the handle 66 or 71 as the case may be to operate the latch. When however any emergency exists for opening the door quickly or by a person who does not see or does not have time to turn the handle 66 on the inside of the door the slightest pressure on any part of the plate 15 of the door moves that plate inward against the action of the springs 12 and thereby rotates the bell cranks connected to that door in counterclockwise direction as seen in Fig. 2 which rotation moves the bar 40 as seen in Fig. 1 downward. This gives the bell crank 46 a counterclockwise direction with the resul't that the knob 51 moves to the left in I Fig. 1 and carries the member 53 and at tached latchbolt 54 toth'e left-in Fig. 1 thus instantly unlocking the door. By the use of this construction it is not necessary for the audience in the theater desiring to'use-t-he doorto touch. any particular part of the door in order to unlatch it and escape. Also by this construction it is possible to lockthe door so that it can not be opened from the outside but it is impossible tolock it so that it cannot be opened as above described from the inside. v

It hardly needs to be stated that the end 67 of the locking bolt 54 is preferably made beveled (not shown) sothatlthe door may latch itself when swung shut, exactly as or-, dinary doors in every day use do.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLet ters 7 Patent, is:

. 1. In a combination with a doorframe, a door hinged thereto comprising a hollow box like member open ongone side over substantially the whole opening in the door frame, a plate closing said entire opening in said door-so mounted-as to be movable toward and from the interior of the door member while always substantially parallel with the opposite side thereof, a'latch for'the door and mechanism mounted within the box and behind said plate adapted to be actuated by pressure upon said movable plate or cover of the door box tounlatch the latch of said door for the purposes described.

2. A door of the class described, alatch for the door, means for operating the,'latch from either side of the door, means for locking one of said means without locking the other and mechamsm opcratable by pressure on the unlocked side of the door for releas ing said latch irrespective of whether. said by pressure on the unlocked side of the'door for releasing said latch irrespective of device of the class described whether the'knob mechanism on the opposite side of. the door is locked or not,

4, In ahdevice of the class described, the combination ofa. door,a la'tch member for the door, a shaftj'ournaled in one side of the door, a non-circular member carried'by the shaft in engagement with the latch, a shaft journaled in the opposite side of the door and means for detachably connecting the 7 second shaft to the non-circular member.

5. In a device of thefclass described the combination of door, a latch member for the door, a shaft journaled in one side of the door, a non-circular'member carried by the shaft in engagement with the latch, a shaft journaled in the opposite side of the door, a lever member pivotally mounted at one side of the second shaft upon the non-circular member and means for detachably conelecting said'lever to the second shaft for the purposes set-forth.

6, In a device of the class described the combination of a door, a latch member for the door, a shaft journaled in one side of the door, a non-circular member carried by vtheshaft in engagement with the latch, a' shaft journaled in the opposite side of the door, a lever member pivotally mounted at one side of the second shaft upon the non- 'circular member, a disk upon the second shaft and means for detachably selectively securing said lever to said disk for the purposes set forth. v

7. In a device of the class described the combination of a door, a latch member for the door, a shaft journaled in one side of the door, a non-circularmember carried by the shaft in engagement with the latch, a

shaft journaled in the opposite'side of the door, alever member pivotallyvmounted at one side of the second shaft upon the noncircular member, a disk upon the second.

shaft and means for detachably selectively securing said lever to said disk and means for locking saidshaftand lever in separated position for the purposes set forth. I 3 In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses- EDWARD A; FREED.

Witnesses: 

